Bill O'Reilly told Jon Stewart that he's been "too easy" on President Obama, and that recent cases of the Justice Department spying on reporters proves it.

Meetings between O'Reilly and Stewart are always great television: The liberal and conservative hosts have learned to play off each other and even occasionally find common ground, as they did on Wednesday's "Daily Show."

Stewart welcomed O'Reilly by saying he believed the Justice Department's monitoring of reporters — including Fox News' James Rosen — was "really overreaching."

Stewart also said O'Reilly and other critics of Obama "finally have a few things that really look worth investigating."

"Is it joy? Is it sexual arousal? What is the feeling over there?" asked Stewart.

"I've been too easy on the man," said O'Reilly, adding that people who deeply dislike Obama are now telling him, "I told you."

O'Reilly also said it looks like Obama "simply doesn't know what's going on within his administration."

"Don't you think they're trying to make a case for plausible deniability?" asked Stewart.

"Yeah, of course," said O'Reilly. "But the president sets a tone, like you set a tone for this program."

"I appreciate it," said Stewart. "That's very kind of you."

The hosts also addressed the IRS' probing of Tea Party groups, the differences in their audience demographics, and how O'Reilly writes so many books.